“Migration is dangerous!”

Migration is a topic often fraught with prejudices and controversies. Critics claim that migration endangers our security and uses up tax money paid by the people, but many statements are the result of biases and misinformation. In this blog, I will explain why migration is essential for Germany.

(The data is for Germany, but can also represent the situation in many other western countries.)

In Germany, about 15% of the population is born abroad. Every year, millions of people immigrate to Germany. This divides society into supporters and opponents of migration.

Opponents argue that migration has a big negative impact on the German economy. In the short term, they are right: the integration, schooling and vocational training is very expensive. Also, other reasons increases the costs to host migrants.

But this is only the tip of the iceberg. You can see it very well on the following chart:

The last few years hurt the German economy - many new people had to be accommodated and integrated.

But in the following years, migration helped in growing the economy. With their new language skills, migrants can work more easily. They bring new ideas, languages and contacts from companies around the world to Germany.

Germany is also experiencing a demographic change. There are more people that need pensions and less people who can work. Without migration, the labor supply could decrease by about 40% by 2050. About 7 million labourers and skilled workers would be missing in 2035, Hubertus Heil (Minister of Work) said. To counter the skills shortage, according to Detlef Scheele (ex-chief of the Federal Employment Agency), we need a net immigration of 400,000 people per year. Aside from 2022 where we had a flow of refugees from the Ukraine, the net immigration often doesn't reach this target.

Migrants usually send money to their home countries. With this action, they help indirectly to improve the standards of living there.

Migration probably can‘t stop the demographic change, but it can help to combat it.

Our economy is stagnating at the moment. Without migration, it would contract significantly.

Many people are fearful of the social system. By now, the social system is overloaded. How can it fit with new people that also need the medical system?

The people disregard one point: Migrants are very important for the healthcare industry. About 20-30% in the medicine and healthcare have a background of migration. Therefore, new qualified workers can help to stabilize the health system in Germany.

This question can not be answered seriously.

It is dependent on how good people are integrated and which future perspective they have. But it is the same as in their home countries: If they live well, they have no reason to commit crimes. But with a low income and/or difficult life situations, people are more likely to turn to crime.

So it is dependent on the individual and his situation, not on their nationality or migration history.

Without migration, the wealth that we have in Germany and Europe wouldn‘t be possible. It is important to integrate migrants correctly, so they don‘t have troubles and won‘t commit crimes.

Migrants don‘t take jobs from others, but they fill the hole of missing skilled workers which come from the demographic changes. There is no valid reason against having them.

https://www.insm.de/insm/deutschland-prinzip/die-ideen/vorteile-zuwanderung

https://www.destatis.de/DE/Themen/Gesellschaft-Umwelt/Bevoelkerung/Wanderungen/Tabellen/wanderungen-zwischen-deutschland-und-dem-ausland.html

https://www.bpb.de/themen/migration-integration/kurzdossiers/344326/die-wirtschaftlichen-auswirkungen-von-zuwanderung

https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/migration-arbeitsmarkt-fachkraeftemangel-deutschland-100.html

https://www.svr-migration.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/SVR_Factsheet_Jahresgutachten_2022.pdf